Raytheon delivers Railgun containers

Raytheon has started deliveries of pulse power containers for the US Navy Railgun programme, it announced on 23 May.

The containers have multiple pulsed power modules to be integrated in the Railgun test range for additional testing and development. They were built to provide the 32MJ required by the Railgun, which fires a projectile at six times the speed of sound.

The design of the container was the result of an initial $10 million contract from the US Naval Sea Systems Command to develop a pulsed power system to launch land or sea-based projectiles without using a rocket motor or explosive charge.

Colin Whelan, vice president of advanced technology for integrated defense systems business at Raytheon, said: ‘Directed energy has the potential to redefine military technology beyond missiles and our pulse power modules and containers will provide the tremendous amount of energy required to power applications like the navy Railgun.

‘Raytheon’s engineering and manufacturing expertise uniquely position us to support next generation weapon systems to meet the ever-evolving threat.’